She tries to control what she can, for example, instead of letting her sister join her in the execution, Antigone declines her and sends her off. Antigone’s most important trait is also the fatal flaw that leads to her own demise. Antigone is so loyal ad determined to bury her brother that she would go against the word of the king to do so. It is because of this determination that she antagonizes Creon into sentencing her to death. Sophocles not only portrays Antigone as a tragic hero, but also as a martyr.
Antigone’s tragic flaw is her love for her family. In the play Antigone, Creon creates a law stating that one of Antigone’s brothers, Polyneices, must not be buried for he was a traitor while the other, Eteocles, is buried with honors. “Antigone- Hasn’t Creon graced one with all the rights, disgraced the other? Eteocles, they say, has been given full military honors, rightly so-Creon’s laid him in the Earth and he goes with glory down among the dead. But the body of Polynices, who died miserably- why, a city wide-proclamation, rumor has it, forbids anyone to bury him, even mourn him.” (1.1 26-33) Also when her sister, Ismene, offers to share Antigone’s punishment with her, Antigone tells her to live her own life and not die by her side.
Antigone strongly disagreed with Creon and his ways of thinking. She thought that all of his power and fame were going to his head. She thought that her brother was a hero for going and dying on the battlefield and that he should have a proper burial. She believed that he should be traditionally buried and not looked down soon like a villain of some sorts. Through the play of Antigone she shows her point of view by being very respectful but well worded at the same time.
One example him doing this is the rivalry between Antigone and her sister Ismene. In Sophocles’ version Ismene is seen as responsible, timid, and obedient and can be seen at that time a perfect girl where Antigone contrasts as being impulsive, resistant and can be seen as moody and is not seen as being like everyone else who follows the state. In Anouilh’s version there is a different form of rivalry. In this version Ismene is the best version of a beautiful girl where as Antigone curses her girlhood where she expresses her hatred for the ideal of feminism that her sister shows off. There are also some symbols Anouilh puts into his Antigone one is Creon’s attack.
A tragic hero is typically known as a literary character whose judgment inevitably leads to their devastating downfall. Antigone by Sophocles is typically the novel that one would compare to a great classic tragic hero novel since it was developed in the Greek tragic era. There were three main characters and each possessed their form of folly. Antigone the main character died for conscience while Creon suffered for hubris from leading his “society”. While Haemon died for the voice of reason.Justice and morality is portrayed throughout the novel yet who is actually the culprit of prideful manner in Antigone?
The fact that Antigone was stubborn and wanted to bury her brother no matter the cost teaches us this lesson. It can also be seen in Creon’s unwillingness to give in to Antigone no because he didn’t want to be looked at in a certain way. Instead, he lost everything that he had and was left at the end of the play in great pain and alone. The story Antigone was a classic Greek tragedy, a continuation of the immense tragedy that has already befallen the house of Oedipus. “Tragedy has a satisfying, redemptive ending because the events in tragedy are arranged so well that we would not have the play end any other way, we accept the conclusion” Antigone does indeed satisfy that requirement as a tragic play.
During this play the protagonist must face a conflict and they have to rely on them selves to solve that certain conflict. The conflict that Antigone faced was in the beginning of the play when she had to think whether or not her morals were worth risking her life. The big situation she had to decide was either to honor her family and the gods or for her to display loyalty to the state. That was a very hard conflict that Antigone had to face in this play and that conflict lasted throughout the play on her final
Antigone also suffers more than she deserves, which is a common trait for tragic heros. Her parents, Jocasta and Oedipus, killed themselves because of the humility of their fate. Polyneices and Eteocles killed each other during battle when they ran each other through with spears. Since Creon deemed Polyneices a traitor, he left his body on the battlefield and made it against the law for anyone to bury him. This is ultimately the reason of Antigone’s death.
At the end of the play, the tragic flaw is unveiled to the tragic heroes in what is called a moment of recognition or anagnorisis. In this play “Antigone” there were two central tragic heroes, Antigone and Creon, with both similarities and differences. Antigone’s tragic flaw was relatively due to a positive quality, which is extreme loyalty to her brother in addition to another negative quality, which is being revolutionary. On the other side, Creon’s tragic flaw had a negative motive of extreme tyranny and stubbornness against the laws of nature and gods and human emotions, which caused tragic effects that could not be reversed despite his efforts at the end; consequently, Antigone and Creon’s characters meet at the point of recalcitrance. In this artistic drama, the writer delivers a significant message that utmost obstinacy and pride results in harsh punishments known as “the blows of fate” which are surely acute for anyone to
At the end of the play, the tragic flaw is unveiled to the tragic heroes in what is called a moment of recognition or anagnorisis. In this play “Antigone” there were two central tragic heroes, Antigone and Creon, with both similarities and differences. Antigone’s tragic flaw was relatively due to a positive quality, which is extreme loyalty to her brother in addition to another negative quality, which is being revolutionary. On the other side, Creon’s tragic flaw had a negative motive of extreme tyranny and stubbornness against the laws of nature and gods and human emotions, which caused tragic effects that could not be reversed despite his efforts at the end; consequently, Antigone and Creon’s characters meet at the point of recalcitrance. In this artistic drama, the writer delivers a significant message that utmost obstinacy and pride results in harsh punishments known as “the blows of fate” which are surely acute for anyone to